The Dare

Tell the truth, or eventually someone will tell it for you.

Unknown quotes

EDWARD'S POV

September 2214

Forks High School - Homeroom

Looking out the window, toward the woods in the distance, the brown eyed, chestnut haired beauty was on my mind again. Well, that wasn't exactly true. Bella was forever on my mind. I constantly wondered what had happened to her. Where had she gone? It had almost been two years since I found her in the woods after hunting. She had been unconscious for three days, and then she had disappeared. My family and I had searched the woods for her, but we found no trace of her.

Whenever I hunted, I looked for any signs of her. I scoured the Washington newspapers for her picture. There were three reasons: I was concerned about her, I felt I had to protect her, and I might have fallen in love with her if she hadn't vanished. The last was a bit out there, even for me. I would never be as lucky as my pseudo-parents or my pseudo-siblings and find my other half. But Bella… she could have been my heart.

"Earth to Edward," Emmett called, trying to get my attention by throwing a wad of paper at me.

I turned and glared at him. "What?" I asked under my breath.

"Don't tell me. You're thinking about Bella, again." He pitched voice up several octaves, batted his eyelashes, and put his hands over his heart.

Mike Newton looked over his shoulder at us. His thoughts were laughable. Who in the world is Bella?

I lived in a small town. It was the type of town where everyone knew everyone and where nothing was secret for long. However, my family remained elusive to them. The town knew our names but not much else about us. We preferred it that way… given our vampiric nature.

"Then don't ask," I said in a low voice.

Emmett and I were sitting in homeroom, listening as the principal made the morning announcements. Nothing new reported. There was an announcement reminding everyone about the tryouts for the Christmas Cantata that would start on Wednesday and go until Friday. Not that anyone needed reminding. Posters were plastered everywhere, much like the last year and the year before.

Nothing much happened until Wednesday and we Cullen kids were sitting at our normal lunch table with prop lunches. Alice, who was a chattering away about something, stopped mid-sentence and got really quiet—odd for her—but when her eyes ghosted over, I knew she was seeing something. I tapped into her thoughts, having the privilege of seeing first-hand her visions.

We are sitting in the auditorium watching our fellow classmates' tryout. A young woman stands, walks over to the Ms. Brandt, accepts the microphone, and starts heading toward the stage. The young woman stops in her tracks muttering something before turning back to Ms. Brandt, handing the microphone back with an apologetic look on her face.

Wait, that's Bella.

There was more, but Alice started singing, effectively blocking me from seeing.

Pursing my lips, I glared at Alice silently asking "what the hell was that."

Her thoughts were silent. She probably saw me asking.

"Emmett, truth or dare," Alice said, taking me and the others by surprise.

"Dare, of course," Emmett replied.

A wicked grin appeared on Alice's face. "Friday you, Edward, and Jasper will be trying out for the cantata."

The three of us groaned.

"What's the dare?" I asked, leaning forward as a fellow student walked by and peering at use.

"The dare is you have to sing the song Rosalie and I pick out. You'll find out at tryouts what song."

~~ B3W ~~

When Friday morning rolled around, Alice reminded us of the dare, not that my brothers and I needed reminding.

School was boring, as always. I hated being perpetually seventeen.

The only thing that happened was my biology teacher had pulled me aside after class and had once again accused me of cheating because I had aced the test. I had flat out told him that I did not cheat and yet again he did not believe me. I had texted Carlisle and told him to expect another call from Mr. Banner.

When the final bell rang, it was with reluctance that I made my way to the auditorium, catching up with my brothers and sisters along the way. We were the last to enter, and I looked around to see if Bella was there. I didn't see her. Maybe Alice's vision was wrong, I thought. As I took a seat next to Jasper, Ms. Brandt started explaining the way that tryouts would work. There were two girls in front of us, though one was surely not a student. Maybe she was a teacher visiting from another school.

"If you want to try out, just bring your music up, and I will either play what you give me or hook your device up to the sound system."

With that, tryouts began.

We sat and listened to one student after another sing, off-key at that, for a while before Alice turned and quietly announced what Emmett, Jasper, and I would be singing. We groaned when she told us it was the Busted's Year 3000, holding out a CD. The song had some questionable lyrics, but Busted's version was far better than the Jonas Brothers' cleaned up version.

Emmett took it and began talking with Jasper quietly, knowing I would go along with anything just to get it over with.

It was nearing the end of the allotted time, and Alice again turned to us and said, "Come on you three, Rosalie and I dared you to get up there and sing. You're running out of time, and you don't want to know what we have planned if you fail in completing the dare."

"Come on, Alice," I said, trying to reason with her. "You can't honestly want us to go up there and sing the song you two picked out."

Her eyes shot daggers at me as she silently yelled at me. "So help me, Edward. If you don't get up there, your car will get a fresh coat of paint, and so will your piano."

That was all it took… and she knew I wouldn't let her anywhere near my piano or car. Emmett and Jasper followed me as I walked to the stage. Emmett stopped and gave Ms. Brandt the CD, telling her which track.

He chuckled silently while thinking, "I love the affect we have on the teachers and student body when we speak."

Once we were ready, I nodded and Ms. Brandt hit play. We had fun with the song by mixing the Jonas Brothers' lyrics into the ones written by Busted, as none of us really wanted to be in the cantata. We all stopped singing when Emmett's microphone was snatched from his hand. A beautiful alto filled the room with the rest of the bridge.

The music stopped, and silence filled the auditorium. Everyone was in awe. I turned and looked at the young woman. My knees nearly gave out… it was Bella. Venom pooled in my mouth as I took a deep breath. She smelled divine, and the monster in me roared, like it had when I had found her crying in the woods.

"Ms. Swan , Cullen boys, would you mind doing that again from the beginning."

Like hell, I thought. I have to get out of here and fast.

"I'm not sure about that—" Bella started but was interrupted by Alice.

"Rosalie and I will join you if it would make it easier for you."

I glared incredulously.

"You'll be fine, Edward. I don't see you or Jasper, for that matter, hurting Bella."

I gave an imperceptible down, up of my head at the same time Bella reluctantly nodded.

"Okay, girls, jump in anytime," Ms. Brandt said.

The music started again, and my brothers and I started singing with the girls jumped in at the same spot as Bella had previously, copying the dance moves of us guys. The music didn't stop this time but continued on with Bella and me singing together at times.

I was in complete awe when we finished, and my throat was burning with want… need. I looked over at where she stood with a smile on my face, willing myself not to attack her. Standing next to me was Emmett. He had his hands on his knees, acting like he was trying to catch his breath.

Ms. Brandt joined us on stage and once the clapping ceased, and she made an announcement. "Let's hear it for our lead singers, Bella Swan and Edward Cullen," she said, pointing to Bella first and then me.

Crap!

Desperate to know how Bella would react, I turned and saw Bella's eyes grew wide.

"Edward, she's going to collapse," Alice threw at me with her thoughts.

With me being the closest to her, I moved and caught her before she hit the floor.

"She was surprised by the announcement," Jasper said when I turned to him for some explanation.

Everyone in the room gasped. Some even gathered in front of the stage. Ms. Brandt kneeled beside Bella and me. A uniformed Star Command officer joined us on the stage. "Is she all right?" the officer asked.

"I think so. I believe she was shocked, that is, if I interpreted her face correctly before she collapsed," I replied.

I looked back down at Bella just as her eyes opened. "Hello there," I said. "Are you okay?"

She nodded and looked around as a blush stole across her cheeks when she saw everyone watching.